By: Eunice Contreras
ENGL 336.001
On the evening of Thursday, November 17th a reading by Lee Gutkind was being held at Frostburg’s Lyric building on Main Street. Gutkind is a writer/veteran journalist who studied Human Communications and taught at Arizona State University. As a person who was dubbed the Godfather of Creative Non-fiction, Gutkind took the time out of his day to visit Frostburg to read his book called “Trucking With Sam.”
Gutkind wrote “Trucking With Sam” to tell the story about how him and his son would explore different parts of the world each summer break Sam had from 2003 to 2009. Gutkind referred to Sam and himself as bachelors after he divorced his wife when Sam was only eight years old. The book was written to tell a story about what it is like being a single dad with responsibilities to his son. Gutkind was inspired to write the book to show how different of a father he was compared to his own father.
The Arizona State professor started his reading off with a chapter on how Sam and him went to China to climb up Mount Kilimanjaro before Sam had to leave for college. Sam ends up getting hurt during the climb and it is not certain whether or not he will be able to move forward. In the reading Gutkind admits to asking himself if he is selfish for wanting his son to get up to finish ‘trucking’ the mountain. “…But also I did not want my son to be quitter,” said Gutkind. Sam ultimately ends up fighting through his pain to finish the climb with Gutkind. The next chapter read by Gutkind took the audience back in time to when Sam was eight years old. The audience discovers that Sam’s mother is a nurse who has a different type of relationship with her son. Gutkind describes her as the parent who is stricter and much more disciplinary than himself. Sam listens to her without talking back like he usually does with Gutkind. The relationship between Sam and Gutkind is shown more when Sam trips while they are on one of their adventures.
Gutkind explains that when Sam would fall he would pause and stay still because he was in pain. Gutkind referred to this as phase one. During this phase, Gutkind would wait and then finally tell Sam to get up and be strong. He wanted to show his son that it was important to be a man and not let his pain get the best of him. While going on with the readings, Gutkind shows more of why he treats his son this way.
During the readings, Gutkind explains that his father was never affectionate towards him. “My father was just an angry and distant man,” said Gutkind. While growing up when he would ask his dad about ‘bazoongies’ (breasts) or the word ‘Fuck,’ he would have stars in his eyes and say, “they’re beautiful things.” After Gutkind’s divorce he would go to therapy and found that the reason he had trouble with sexual activity was because of that one memorable conversation with his father. Gutkind admitted he may not have been the best father to Sam, but he knows he gave him experiences his own father never gave him.
Gutkind’s creative writing reading was a comical experience for the audience, but also showed that creative non-fiction writing deserves recognition. Gutkind stands by creative non-fiction writing even though at first it was not supported, especially not by journalists. Lee Gutkind wants writers to keep writing if they enjoy it even though publishing and making their names known can be difficult. Thinking about putting something you know into other people’s mind and changing lives is more important. “Don’t think about the fame,” said Gutkind.
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